American Michael Phelps has tied legendary swimmer Mark Spitz's Olympic Gold record, winning his seventh gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps has been winning by world record times in all of his events. His latest time was only an Olympic record. But his margin of victory was a small as it gets.
美国选手菲尔普斯已经平了传奇游泳运动员斯皮茨在一次奥运会上获取7枚金牌的记录。菲尔普斯在北京奥运会上也夺取了7枚金牌。他在获取前六枚金牌时的成绩都打破了世界记录，但是最新的这枚金牌只打破奥运会记录，而且优势微乎其微。
In less than the blink of an eye, Michael Phelps touched the wall ahead of Serbia's Milorad Cavic to win the men's 100-meter butterfly. No one in the Water Cube who witnessed the race knew who had won. Neither did Phelps or Cavic.
菲尔普斯在男子一百米蝶泳决赛中获胜，他最后触摸游泳池边的时间只比第二名快了一点点。当时在水立方游泳馆观看比赛的人都不知道究竟是谁赢得了比赛。甚至连菲尔普斯本人和几乎同时到达终点的塞尔维亚选手卡维奇也不知道。
The answer came from the electronic timing system, which showed Phelps had touched in 50.58 seconds. He commented on the mere one-100th of one second difference from Cavic.
比赛最终结果是电子计时系统报告的，显示菲尔普斯触到池边的时间是50秒58。因此他以百分之一秒的差距击败了卡维奇。
"One -100th (of a second) is the smallest margin of victory in our sport. And it was pretty cool. I guess that is all I can say," he said.
菲尔普斯说，“在游泳比赛中，百分之一秒是取胜的最小差距。这很棒。我也只能说这些了。”
Serbia immediately filed a protest once the results were shown on the Water Cube scoreboard. Phelps was only seventh at the 50-meter turn, and it seemed impossible that he could have surged in front at the end.
水立方赛场的赛况显示牌上显示比赛结果后，塞尔维亚立即提出抗议。菲尔普斯在50米处转身的时候只是第七位，似乎不可能在抵达终点时冲到第一名。
But officials from FINA, swimming's world governing body, quickly reviewed the finish. Ben Ekumbo of Kenya was the event referee.
但是世界泳联的官员迅速重新审查了冲刺镜头，这次比赛的裁判员肯尼亚人埃库姆波说：
"It is evident from the video that it was an issue of stroking. One was stroking, and the other was gliding. We use automatic timing systems. And the timing system in this case was in perfect order," he said.
“从录像来看，这是两人手的动作问题。他们一个在划水，另一个在滑行。我们用的是自动计时系统。这次比赛中计时系统完全正常。”
Cavic was not interested the protest. He was simply thrilled to get a silver medal.
卡维奇对抗议不感兴趣。他为自己获得银牌感到兴奋。
"It is a gold medal at stake. It is a difficult thing to lose. But you have to understand, I came into this competition with the goal to win the bronze medal," he said.
他说：“要争的是金牌，确实很不愿意失去金牌；不过呢，你要知道，我这次来参赛之前，目标只是铜牌。”
That bronze went to Andrew Lauterstein of Australia. By another margin of one-100th of a second, he edged previous world record holder Ian Crocker of the United States off the medal podium.
这次比赛的铜牌最后落到了澳大利亚选手劳特斯坦的手里。他比第四名美国选手克罗克也只快了百分之一秒。
Phelps is now tied with fellow-American Mark Spitz who won seven gold swimming medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
到目前为止，菲尔普斯和前美国奥运冠军斯皮茨一样，创下了在一届奥运会上赢得七枚金牌的记录。施皮茨是在1972年的慕尼黑奥运会上取得上述优异成绩的。
"It really shows that no matter what you set your imagination to, anything can happen. If you dream as big as you can dream, then anything is possible," he said.
菲尔普斯说，“这表明，不管你原本的想象如何，任何事情都会发生。只要你有宏大的梦想，什么事情都是可能的！”
Michael Phelps's dream is to win an unprecedented eighth gold on Sunday. He will have to rely on his teammates to do it in the difficult four-by-100 meter medley relay final.
菲尔普斯的梦想是要在星期天赢得前所未有的第八枚金牌，打破所有人的记录。要达到这个目标，他不仅要靠自己，而且还要依靠队友们的共同努力，才能在充满挑战的4X100米的混合接力中赢得冠军。 |